Hepatitis virus B and C infections are associated with an increased risk of non‐Hodgkin lymphoma: A nested case‐control study using a national sample cohort

Abstract

BackgroundHepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are suspected of being associated with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); however, persuasive data are lacking. Hence, a nested large‐population case‐control study was performed to investigate such associations in Koreans.MethodsData were collected from 929 patients with NHL and 3716 healthy subjects, who were matched 1:4 for age, sex, income, and region of residence, from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service‐National Sample Cohort. The diagnoses of NHL and HBV/HCV infection were based on the International Classification of Diseases (version 10) codes. Conditional logistic regression models were used to assess odds ratios (ORs) for NHL with respect to HBV or HCV with adjustment for the Charlson comorbidity index.ResultsHBV and HCV rates were higher in the NHL group (3.3% and 1.3%, respectively) than in the control group (0.9% and 0.3%, respectively; P < .001 for each). The adjusted OR of hepatitis infection in patients with NHL were 3.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.99‐5.31) for HBV and 3.36 (95% CI = 1.51‐7.46) for HCV (P < .001 for each). Subgroups categorized by age (<55 vs ≥55 years) or sex showed significantly higher adjusted ORs of HBV for NHL. Moreover, patients with NHL ≥ 55 years of age or those who were female showed significantly higher adjusted ORs of HCV; those <55 years or who were male also tended to have higher ORs of HCV.ConclusionInfection with either HBV or HCV is associated with NHL in Koreans.

Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma among Patients with Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus in Taiwan: A Nationwide Cohort Study

“…A nested large-population case-control study in Korea investigated the suspected relationship between hepatitis and NHL. The results reported that the incidence of HBV and HCV in the NHL group (3.3% and 1.3%, respectively) was higher than that in the control group (0.9% and 0.3%, respectively; p < 0.001) [11]. In a previous study in Taiwan, chronic HCV infection was temporally associated with a twofold increase in the risk of lymphoid tumors from 2001 to 2005, especially the risk of NHL.…”

“…Among older adults, a registry-based case-control study for HCV infection and the risk of cancer indicated a positive association with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (aOR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.34-1.84) [36]. One study reported the adjusted ORs of HBV in patients with NHL who were <55 years compared with those who were ≥55 years-2.28 (p = 0.038) and 3.48 (p < 0.001), respectively-and the adjusted ORs for HCV in patients with NHL who were <55 years compared with those who were ≥55 years were 2.58 (p = 0.114) and 3.24 (p = 0.044), respectively [11]. The results of the present study indicate that patients with lupus erythematosus, human immunodeficiency virus, and organ transplant were all at a higher risk of developing NHL.…”

“…Previous studies examining the link between HBV infection and NHL have yielded conflicting results. Studies from Europe, Japan, China, and South Korea have indicated HR ranges from 1.74 to 4.87 [11,27,28]. However, other studies have found no significant association between HBV infection and NHL [13,29,30].…”

“…Studies have indicated that the cause of NHL may be related to viral or bacterial infection or poor immune function [5,6]. Additionally, many studies have shown that chronic liver disease can also increase the risk of developing NHL [7][8][9][10][11]. Preventing NHL among patients with HBV and HCV requires special attention.…”

Hepatitis B virus infection specially increases risk of liver metastasis in breast cancer patients: a propensity-matched analysis

“…Chronic infection with HBV is a kind of pathological status which can cause chronic liver damage such as changes of liver-related immunity and inflammation (7)(8)(9)(10)(11). HBV infection has been well recognized to be one of the major causes of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (12)(13)(14)(15). Moreover, some reports are obtainable regarding that whether HBV infection is associated with liver metastasis in some extrahepatic malignancies including colorectal cancer (CRC) and pancreatic cancer (PC).…”